


Face Down

by scorchingpathos



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fix-It, Gen, Maxine "Max" Caulfield Still Has Powers, Oneshot, Post-Canon, Rachel Amber Lives, established amberprice, pre-amberpricefield
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 02:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12878268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorchingpathos/pseuds/scorchingpathos
Summary: "The voice of a dead man. Never in a million years did she foresee herself catching the attention of Rachel Amber."-In which Max finally meets Rachel.





	Face Down

* * *

 

“Maxine Caulfield, right?”

The last time she’d heard those words, Warren had taken a beatdown straight from the richest kid on campus.

(But that can't be true, she saw them sneaking a kiss in the courtyard when they’d thought no one was watching.)

The last time she heard those words, Max had reunited with a dead girl who just happened to be her former best friend. 

She wonders how she got to this point, at times like these. It isn't often that she catches herself reminiscing about the past - always detached from the future, keeping her distance from the present. The last thing Max Caulfield needs is _another_ F6 tornado to wipe out Arcadia Bay.

So she stays away. Shies away from ultra-nerd Warren Graham; Max keeps from sweet, saintly Kate Marsh, and avoids Victoria Chase like the plague. William’s instant camera is the only companion allowed in her lonely life.

Sure, she attends Blackwell - the photography program has suffered, she’s heard. Months into her ‘Language of Photography’ class, and she has yet to pick up her Polaroid.

_Always take the shot_ , he says.

As much as she hated it, it was a motto she followed to the bone. After a sleepless night of drunk sorrows with Frank Bowers, refusing to come to terms with the fact that Chloe was no longer in fact alive, she’d been wasted enough to attempt yet another photo jump. Her emotions had risen to a fever pitch, she wasn't thinking. Fucking up timelines seemed second-nature to her now.

And now, in Oregon's late November sweater weather, still bending universal laws with an unholy rewind power, she holds her breath in this ideal timeline, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for Frank to shake her awake and confirm that, yes, it was nothing but a fever dream. Rachel was dead, Chloe was dead, and therefore nothing mattered anymore.

Speaking of Rachel.. Chloe hadn't been lying when she gushed about Rachel's natural beauty. She’d seen the two of them around the skaters before - even making out on a few occasions. It hurt, but the last thing she needed was to fuck up Chloe’s overall happiness. So, Max kept her distance, as always.

It was what she did best, after all.

“Hey, Maxine… that _is_ your name, right?”

The voice of a dead man. Never in a million years did she foresee herself catching the attention of Rachel Amber.

Before she knows it, her mouth starts moving on autopilot, formulating a response of her own.

“It’s Max,” the young time traveler corrects with a wry smile, “never Maxine.”


End file.
